1. Sailing too close to others: daily, everywhere in the Gorge. I once passed within two mast lengths of another sailor; we both fell and our mast tips collided, damaging both masts. Give others room to play or screw up.

2. Jibing without looking: almost daily, most places.

3. Ramming me in the process of #2, damaging their gear badly: twice over the years.

4. Me tapping hulls gently with #2 to wake them up: three times over the years.

5. Ranked World Cup racer from Australia (the name Brian comes to mind) diving into the river about two feet from me to avoid high-speed broadside when he snuck up on me from behind and below. Off Wells Island, circa 1990.

6. Every day, any Gorge venue: Sailing behind/beside others riding swell. Slalom sailors need to realize that in swell, as in waves, directional norms cease to exist as riders abandon beam reaching for jumps, off-the-lips, and bottom turns at full speed. I've laughed out loud in respect and awe as swell riders passed across my beam-reaching nose while I was flat out and they were luffed and surfing very skillfully 90 degrees across the grain through hordes of lemmings (Hatchery, circa 2005).

7. A few times over the years: port tackers trying on port to force starboard sailors out of the way. Once? Fine; it's all yours. Repeatedly? Not smart when the guy on starboard is on gear he doesn't have to pay for.

9. Landing a big jump one inch from another planing sailor on the same tack, side by side. Oops; that was me, at Roosevelt, circa 2002. I STILL don't know where he came from, because I looked below and behind me before I took off. (But see #1.)

10. Buzzing downed sailors, especially if they're waterstarting (i.e., waving around a weapon with a 15-foot strike radius). Either sailor is subject to the slightest mistake or deliberate strike.

11. Jumping over a downed sail (NOT the sailor). Oops, me again, Roosevelt, circa 1995. Inexcusable, and it hasn't happened since, but DAMN, that ramp was a once-a-season sure thing. "Missed him by a mile" . . . that time.

12. Sailing in crowded conditions beyond one's abilities. The Hatch, circa 1992: Gorge newbie completely out of control on big summer weekend, shouting "Out of my way; I'm out of control " (no joke) as she forced sailors out of her unpredictable way for an hour.

13. Often, anywhere: Rigged sails left untethered in high winds. I saw a board snap in half around a telephone pole, followed closely by its separate rig which snapped in two places as it wrapped around my Blazer above my prone body (I saw it coming). Cochiti Lake, NM, circa 1985, in winds measured at 5 frequently gusting over 65.

I WAS BLASTING INTO THE STEVENSON LAUNCH AT MACH 5 ON MY NEW DILL EPOXY , AND INITIATED A HERO JIBE WITHOUT LOOKING AROUND FOR ANOTHER SAILOR. I THUS JIBED DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF A SAILOR WHO WAS PINCHING UP WIND TO GAIN THE LAUNCH. HE HIT ME DIRECTLY MIDSHIPS, HE HAD THE KILLER BIC BOARD, WHICH SURVIVED WITHOUT A SCRATCH, I HAD A HOLE THE SIZE OF A DINNER PLATE IN MY TWO DAY OLD BOARD. FORTUNATLY NEITHER OF US WAS HURT IN ANY WAY.

2. SAILOR; ME AGAIN!

DATE; PROBABLY 1990

I WAS LEARNING TO WATERSTART AT THE HOOD RIVER MARINIA WHEN IT WAS STILL A SAIL PARK. I WAS IN THE RIVER POINTED TOWARD THE BEACH AND GAINED A LAUNCH AND IMMEDIATELY RAN DIRECTLY OVER A SAILOR WHO HAD FALLEN IN FRONT OF ME WHOM I HAD NOT SEEN. I FELT A BIG BUMP JUST AS I SHEETED IN AND LOOKED BACK TO SEE A HEAD POP OUT OF THE WATER BEHIND MY FIN. OUCH. THE GUY HAD A HELMET ON, THANK GOD!! I NOW WEAR A HELMET TO PROTECT MYSELF FROM IDIOTS LIKE MYSELF.

BOY WAS I STUPID. I NOW TEND TO AVOID CROWDED LAUNCHES AND PREFER TO SAIL UP OR DOWN WIND OF THE LAUNCH. THERE ARE ALWAY A FEW OF US WHO ARE CLUELESS, YOU MAY BE ONE TOO.

I have not, as of yet had any bad experiences with kiters. Actually I have had some memorable days sailing around them. So far I found them to be cool. I really like it when they disappear flying over the ridge line at the wall. As for the windsurfers, man I have quite a bitch list, but Iíll keep it short. For all you A-holes out there who have to out point you no matter what, F-you. Sometimes people are so territorial-have it my way, that their not paying attention to the wind direction or whatís going on downwind from the sailor their cutting off. All they think is, I have the right away and Iíll be dammed if I am letting you point above me. I see so many people sailing with tunnel vision; itís like sailing with a bunch of ignorant greedy little kids. I had a guy several years back sailing right behind me just down wind, throw a loop to try and impress his friends on the beach. When he landed, I was already half way through my jibe as he collided with me. His fin ripped my board, basically in half. His ear ended up, almost ripped off by a piece of my equipment. I see it happen all the time in the Gorge, its called sailor envy. One guy needs to race, out move, or overall try to impress and embarrass his so called competitors. Iím sure this has to date back to the cave man days when we where all trying to gain respect and leadership. Iím pretty sure our brains are just a little bigger by now.

For all you A-holes out there who have to out point you no matter what, F-you.

Playing FU with those guys is fun when you're on cheap or even free boards, especially if they're 20-pound polyester bombers. About the third time any individual tries that with me, he's no longer playing chicken; he's testing the impact strength of his light white hull. When one of 'em bailed a few feet short of my free board on its straight starboard path, I slowed, leaned down over him, and hollered into his face, "Get out of MY way!". Another was similarly informed, "Next time I cut your board in half." Neither tried that game again.

But 999 times out of a thousand that two of us are closing when I'm on starboard, I'll bear off, for several reasons.
It's polite and promotes good will.
It's less confining for me, as I'm no longer "obligated" to hold my straight line.
It saves him a trip to the laundromat when I spot a lip I want to bank off of into a downwind run.

My pet peave--Two weeks ago at the event site:
Children were playing in the shallow water in the direct path of the windsurfing crowd, w/o lifejackets. Winds were gusting to 35, waves were very strong and it was a holiday weekend so there were alot of inexperienced sailors that were having trouble making it past the sand spit (myself included). Where were their parents? Winsurfing? I saw four children come within a foot or two of getting their heads bashed and 5 other sailors crash to avoid them, just in the time I wasn't sailing.

It is nasty enough trying to get out of the event site without having to dodge kids.

I saw that too at the Event Site. I was out teaching my brother how to waterstart, and there were DOZENS of people just bobbing around in the water, absolutely clueless as to the danger they were in. My bro bailed out several times to keep from running people over, I'm surprised I didn't see any decapitations.
I suppose bathers have "right of way" over sail craft, much like hikers do over bikes in Post Canyon, but I wouldn't walk down the middle of Dropout looking like I belonged there. Stupid and inconsiderate!

1. Sailing too close to others: daily, everywhere in the Gorge. I once passed within two mast lengths of another sailor; we both fell and our mast tips collided, damaging both masts. Give others room to play or screw up.

2. Jibing without looking: almost daily, most places.

3. Ramming me in the process of #2, damaging their gear badly: twice over the years.

4. Me tapping hulls gently with #2 to wake them up: three times over the years.

5. Ranked World Cup racer from Australia (the name Brian comes to mind) diving into the river about two feet from me to avoid high-speed broadside when he snuck up on me from behind and below. Off Wells Island, circa 1990.

6. Every day, any Gorge venue: Sailing behind/beside others riding swell. Slalom sailors need to realize that in swell, as in waves, directional norms cease to exist as riders abandon beam reaching for jumps, off-the-lips, and bottom turns at full speed. I've laughed out loud in respect and awe as swell riders passed across my beam-reaching nose while I was flat out and they were luffed and surfing very skillfully 90 degrees across the grain through hordes of lemmings (Hatchery, circa 2005).

7. A few times over the years: port tackers trying on port to force starboard sailors out of the way. Once? Fine; it's all yours. Repeatedly? Not smart when the guy on starboard is on gear he doesn't have to pay for.

9. Landing a big jump one inch from another planing sailor on the same tack, side by side. Oops; that was me, at Roosevelt, circa 2002. I STILL don't know where he came from, because I looked below and behind me before I took off. (But see #1.)

10. Buzzing downed sailors, especially if they're waterstarting (i.e., waving around a weapon with a 15-foot strike radius). Either sailor is subject to the slightest mistake or deliberate strike.

11. Jumping over a downed sail (NOT the sailor). Oops, me again, Roosevelt, circa 1995. Inexcusable, and it hasn't happened since, but DAMN, that ramp was a once-a-season sure thing. "Missed him by a mile" . . . that time.

12. Sailing in crowded conditions beyond one's abilities. The Hatch, circa 1992: Gorge newbie completely out of control on big summer weekend, shouting "Out of my way; I'm out of control " (no joke) as she forced sailors out of her unpredictable way for an hour.

13. Often, anywhere: Rigged sails left untethered in high winds. I saw a board snap in half around a telephone pole, followed closely by its separate rig which snapped in two places as it wrapped around my Blazer above my prone body (I saw it coming). Cochiti Lake, NM, circa 1985, in winds measured at 5 frequently gusting over 65.

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forumYou can attach files in this forumYou can download files in this forum